Smyrna times., 1887-04-13

BARRIERS ON the Tramp-IIOw Rov
Learns the Trade-Big shops DO Not
Encourage Apprentices-secrets of the
Business.
Where do all the BARRIERS come from
Where do they learn the trades'' was
asked of barber who shavcs "A lot Of
politicians every week in down town
barber shop.
I'VE make some of them right here. g"
he said. More of them are turned ont
on the east side avenues. Others come to
town from the country villages and
smaller cities. The artistic hair dresser
comes to New York from the west lust as
naturally as all the other great men do.
Some of them come here to finish their
education, and others to show us how
to do our work. There are plenty of GOOD
BARRIERS on the tramp, going from town To
town looking for short time Jobs. and
staying only long enough to run uD q
bill at boarding house They don't ex-
actly tramp; as a rule they ride. They ret
acquainted with railroad men. give them q
free shave and a hair cut, and so get
chances to beat the roads There is no
end to the number Of BARRIERS They are
turned out as plentifully as mushrooms in
a damp garden
You say You make some here
Plenty Of them. about one every ten
weeks or three months. We get in a boy
10 brush coats, hand the gentlemen their
mats and make himself generally useful.
lie works himself into the good graces Of
some barber here who lets the boy soap his
face and may be shave it, The boy labors
with the strap and razor. He is set to hon
mo old fThoy, ,.....l
man comes in, finds that the boy is
anxious to try his hand and gives him n
chance. That settles it, The 10y has
learned the trade and away he goes
But, suppOsing he is really more
anxious to learn the trade than 10 yet
Journeyman's wages without the skil.r
THEY DIED EARLY.
Il guess there are no more of those
DOys lett. They died early. If one should
happen to be alive he could ONLY learn the
trade by watching the older me. at their
work, and then, when he could yet hold Of
man who was well insured and WILLING
to take chances, by trying to put in rrac-
tice what he had seen experienced work
men do. OF course the boss h:.s to po
over the mans face after the apprcnt zee
has done. When it comes to hair cutting
the boy gets confidence by using the ma
chine on careless customers in tie sum
mer time and then by degrees by urac-
tlclng with the shears in the same way.
II takes about four years to make a bar
Der.
Big shops do not encourage aDnreD.
tices. They are in the way. But where
a man has not enough trade to warrant
the employment Of a jOurneyman bur has
all he can turn to himself. the boy is n
necessity, and it is in such shops that bows
get the best training The boy fathers
the face of one customer while the boss
shaves another previously lathered in an
other chair. The boy combs the hair of
the customer after the boss has shaved
him. Then the regular customer, who
has become acquainted with the bOv. and
Is in too great hurry to wait for the boss.
says, Why can't you give me scrape,'
The boy says he can, and he does. What
matters it to the man in hurry that the
razor pulls a little The boy gets the
same sort Of a chance at hair cutting. In
such a shop a smart boy becomes an ex-
pert IN three years. The boss pushes him
because 1t is profitable to do so. The
secrets of making pOmades and hair dress
lngs and sea foam and that sort of stuF
are easily learned. 1t is hard to take the
IlSnU care OF razor, but a good MANY
baE5ers depend on the cutler to hone uD
their blades nowadays, so that it is not
absolutely necessary
German barber in a Second avenue
shop said that the only real good BARRIERS
were those born in the barber shop and
trained to it by their fathers Such men
were always skiuful and generally success
ful. The careful father ALWAYS had the
boy shave him a great many times before
trusting a customer under the prentice
razor. He said that Germans were as a
rule, proficient No Yankee Jov could
ever become skillful barber, because he
would consider the work menial He
thought it possible that an Italian might
occasionally learn to do the work accent
ably, but the instances would necessarily
be rare, because of their lack of patience.
New York Sun.